This year for Lent I decided to go on a social media detox which involved giving up Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat stories (because I still use the app for communication while I'm abroad), and my main Instagram account on which I forced myself not to scroll through my feeds and compare myself to others.

I had considered myself to have an unhealthy relationship with social media, an addiction almost, if you will, and saw that I wasn't using these apps just for "fun" and they were negatively impacting my mood whenever I would use them for extended periods of time. Noticing these unhealthy dips in my attitude, I decided that it was time to finally do something about it and even if nothing came of it, I might as well give it a try for the Lenten season, just to see if I could and say that I did.

As it turns out, this lifestyle change turned out to be extremely positive.

At first it was very difficult to fight the urge to log onto certain apps. I had deleted Twitter and Facebook from my phone and still found myself habitually looking for them in-between classes, yearning to scroll through my timelines and compose some fun tweets.

Snapchat was a bit easier, as I could still technically use it, just not post my own stories. I also allowed myself to only look at others' stories if the content was "positive". (For instance, my friend who lives in Chicago posted photos of her pet lizard and those were fun to look at.)

Instagram was probably the hardest to kick though because I was limited to only using my accounts for study abroad, where I post one photo every day describing my experience, and my dog's account (which is inherently positive in itself because my dog is actually the "goodest boy" on the planet as you can see in the headline photo above.)

It was also incredibly tempting to post photos for validation when I was feeling down (we all do it, don't pretend). I did, however, end up posting one video of myself playing ukulele because my friends have told me that they enjoy my uke videos and I went ahead and threw it in. In the last week of Lent I also found out that my brother had committed to a university he had worked so hard to get into, so I posted a congratulatory photo of him with the school's mascot because I was proud of him (and wanted to brag just a little bit) for his accomplishments.

I also found myself using my study abroad account to leave comments like, "you look beautiful!" on photos that my friends had posted because although, yes, it was "scrolling", I figured that sending them some positive energy from across the world couldn't hurt.

Overall, I'd say that my detox was incredibly productive. I re-taught myself to not need social media validation from others, and when I finally opened up my apps again on Easter, I found that I was no longer comparing myself to others, but rather more inclined to leave comments on cute photos or posts. I didn't feel inferior to them because I didn't look "as pretty" in my photos. The fact of the matter is- we're different people! Why on Earth would I have ever expected myself to dress or pose the same way?

By giving up social media, I was able to cut myself a break and just see the apps for what they are- apps! Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, or any other form of social media should not be used as a means for validation. When we rely too heavily on the amount of "likes" we receive (and please excuse this cliché that every parent has used), we become almost a slave to the "system", to "the man". I'm not saying that every one should cut social media out of their lives completely because let's face it, they can be a lot of fun!

But once you start replacing "likes" for substantial communication, even if it's through email, text messages, or WhatsApp, you start prioritizing quantity over quality. Everything becomes very surface-level and while that can be an easy fix to feeling poorly, it is absolutely not a replacement for meaningful contact and relationships.

So yes, while I have re-added Twitter to my phone's social media folder, I don't think I'll be downloading Facebook again any time soon. Giving up these apps and limiting my usage of others has taught me a thing or two about moderation, and from now on I'm going to try to be more cognizant of how it affects me in the future. Maybe at some point another detox will be in order.